Ido Nehoshtan

The son of Ya'akov Nehoshtan, Nehoshtan's roots are from Bulgaria and Macedonia. Nehoshtan was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1975 in the Combat Engineering branch and was selected for the IAF Pilots Course after a year of service. Until 1979, he flew an A-4 Skyhawk, and was then re-trained for the F-4 Phantom in the No. 107 Squadron.

During his career, Nehoshtan served as an instructor at the pilot school, then as the 253 Squadron deputy commander (ranked major) and commander of the No. 140 Squadron (ranked lieutenant colonel), among others.

In 2000, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and commanded the Air Intelligence Group, from 2002 commanded the Air Squadron, and from 2004 headed the Air Force Staff.

On June 8, 2006, he was moved to the command of the Planning Directorate with the consent of the then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz, due to a request by then-Chief of Staff Dan Halutz to keep him in service.[1] On February 15, 2008, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, approved Nehoshtan's appointment to command the Air Force as a major general. On April 4, 2008, he was replaced by Amir Eshel as the Planning Directorate head upon becoming Air Force Commander. Eshel himself succeeded Nehoshtan in the same position 4 years later.

In April 2012, he was awarded the Legion of Merit by US Air Force Commander Gen. Norton Schwartz during a ceremony in Washington. Nehoshtan also met with US pilots who have flown on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and flew himself in the aircraft's simulator, as well as on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft that the IAF has considered to acquire as a complementary platform for search and rescue and covert operations behind enemy lines.[2]

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